MAKING A SPLASH
Architect-designed home with swimming pool for €850k
Era: 1990s Size: 324 sqm Agent: Sherry FitzGerald (021) 427 3041 Viewing: By appointment
Whatever about outdoor pools, it’s surprising that more Irish homes don’t have indoor swimming pools. In densely populated areas, it’s not so easy but, where space allows, an indoor pool is a real bonus, ensuring that the children of the house will be the most popular kids in school and never short of a few friends to come over for a playdate. At Cedarwood, the indoor heated pool, and has an overhead screen and projector to facilitate moviewatching while swimming.
The current owners bought the property in 2005 and, by all accounts, it has been a busy and happy family home for them, full of people and activity. Now, however, they are downsizing, because these days they spend part of the year living abroad.
The Demesne is located just outside the village of Monkstown on the fringes of Cork harbour in the old wooded grounds surrounding Monkstown Castle and adjacent to the Monkstown Golf Club.
There are a couple of dozen houses here, each individually designed and sitting on a decent-sized plot. Cedarwood is on half an acre with its own babbling brook.
The architect responsible for Cedarwood was Conor O’Sullivan of COSA and his brief was to make the house sympathetic to its surroundings. The cedar used on the exterior has weathered to an ashy grey over the years and blends in well with the muted brick that makes up the rest of the exterior.
The entrance hall is spacious with a feature stained glass window by artist Eoin Turner and a guest lavatory and cloakroom. The living room is at a lower level and, in common with all the reception rooms, has a solid wood floor and an open gas fire that it shares with the dining room, which opens out onto the deck and garden.
The conservatory is where the owners say that they like to curl up with a good book or simply sit and watch the wildlife, including a resident population of red squirrels in the garden. On the way to the swimming pool there is the unusual feature of a glass floor panel sitting over a subterranean aquarium filled with live fish.
The kitchen/dining room features painted solid wood units and granite work surfaces and a number of integrated appliances are included in the sale, as is the five-burner range cooker. There’s a separate utility room with access to the outside.
Upstairs, there are five bedrooms. The master is en suite, has a walk-in wardrobe and opens out onto the wraparound deck, to which the other bedrooms — three doubles and a single — also have access. There is also a family bathroom with free-standing bath.
Outside, there’s plenty of parking for cars and boats and the south-west facing garden, surrounded by mature trees and with some well-established planting, is mainly in lawn and nicely secluded. The patio is well-positioned for barbecues in the summer months. Monkstown Village has schools, shops, pubs, and restaurants, of which The Bosun is the current owners’ favourite. The Monkstown Bay Sailing Club runs summer camps and tennis, golf and fishing are all available nearby.